Contents

Summary

With their SmackDown Tag Team Championship opportunity at WWE Extreme Rules now only five days away, Team Hell No joined The A-Lister “Miz TV” to look ahead to their battle with The Bludgeon Brothers on Sunday. The Miz attempted to rile up Daniel Bryan & Kane, calling them a nostalgia act that no longer has what it takes to compete with a duo like Harper & Rowan. Having to hear this from his bitter rival put The “Yes!” Man in the mood for a fight, though Kane tried to calm his friend down... until Miz kept persisting with his taunting, which led to Kane getting ready to chokeslam The A-Lister. However, Miz got out of dodge when The Bludgeon Brothers began to approach the ring. Bryan & Kane quickly had their hands full when SAnitY appeared and attacked Team Hell No with Harper & Rowan soon joining in.

The reinforcements would soon arrive, though, with The New Day joining the fight and evening the odds for a bit. However, the sheer brutality that The Bludgeon Brothers and SAnitY already inflicted on Team Hell No was too much for them and The New Day to overcome, as WWE officials ran down to attempt to break up the melee.

AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura rekindled their epic rivalry as Rusev watched from ringside, providing guest commentary and spouting off about how was ready to dethrone The Phenomenal One for the WWE Championship this Sunday.

Styles and Nakamura picked up right where they left off, laying into one another with hard-hitting strikes and counters for the other's counters. During the contest, the hard-hitting action spilled out of the ring to the commentary desk, where Styles could not help but clock a chattering Aiden English, who was getting too close for comfort.

The King of Strong Style used the distraction to knock AJ down on the outside, but the WWE Champion evaded the Kinshasa and caused Nakamrua to drill English instead. An incensed Rusev blindsided Styles, who won by disqualification. Rusev and Nakamura then began to put the boots to The Phenomenal One, but the tables turned quickly when United States Champion Jeff Hardy came out to even the odds.

During this melee, SmackDown LIVE General Manager Paige arrived with an announcement that would prolong the insanity, as a tag team match pitting Styles & Hardy vs. Rusev & Nakamura would happen... oh, and it would be next.

The four Superstars wasted no time getting right back into the thick of their conflict, with each clearly wanting to make a major statement ahead of their championship clashes on Sunday.

Jeff Hardy & AJ Styles caught fire during the free-for-all, but Rusev knocked Styles out of the ring with a Machka Kick, then leveled Hardy with a second one to claim a valuable win just five days before his WWE Title bout at WWE Extreme Rules.

Due to the controversial conclusion to last week's battle of the sexes between James Ellsworth and Asuka, Paige declared that Ellsworth would have to face off with Asuka again tonight... in a Lumberjack Match. Having been given strict instruction by Carmella to take care of The Empress of Tomorrow, Ellsworth kicked off the proceedings with some insulting words for the lumberjacks.

Once the contest got going though, it was more of the same from last week: Asuka terrorizing Ellsworth. With nowhere to run for Ellsworth, it appeared The Empress was on her way to an emphatic victory just five days before her SmackDown Women's Championship rematch at WWE Extreme Rules. At one point, Ellsworth attempted to bolt, but the lumberjacks grabbed him and then started going at it with one another.

During all this commotion, Carmella attempted to hand Ellsworth a spray that he used to try to blind The Empress. Asuka was hip to their plan though and stopped the ploy, knocking Ellsworth into Carmella to send her flying off the apron, and then putting Carmella's lackey in the Asuka Lock for the submission victory.
Just after the bell, Carmella rushed the ring to try to get the jump on Asuka. While The Empress attempted to deal with The Princess, Ellsworth retrieved the spray and blinded Carmella's foe, allowing the champion to make a major statement by downing her challenger yet again.

Fueled off aggression after being blindsided by Andrade “Cien" Almas several weeks ago in a vicious backstage assault, Sin Cara came out at a rapid pace against El Idolo on SmackDown LIVE.

However, Almas soon took control after leaping from the top rope and planting both of his feet into Sin Cara's chest before putting away the masked luchador with his vicious Running Double Knee attack for the biggest win of his blue brand tenure.

Due to the chaotic brouhaha that kicked off SmackDown LIVE, Paige made a massive 10-Man Tag Team Match, and the two sides fought ferociously with tons of bruising offense.

The Bludgeon Brothers and SAnitY used their size and strength advantages to wear down Team Hell No & The New Day for a good chunk of the contest, but Daniel Bryan led a rally for his squad that saw a flurry of high-impact maneuvers, including Big E launching Kofi Kingston over the top rope and onto Harper, clearing the way for Bryan to catch Eric Young with the Running Knee for the 1-2-3.

After the big victory, The New Day and Team Hell No began to celebrate. When Bryan & Kane reached the top of the ramp, they went back and forth, first over who should lead the “Yes!” chant. Bryan then attempted Kane's signature fire-summoning technique. At first, The “Yes!” Man's attempts rendered nothing, but then, miraculously, his final attempt worked, with Bryan conjuring the iconic flames of The Big Red Machine. Could this potentially be a precursor for a lit performance from Team Hell No en route to a SmackDown Tag Team Championship victory this Sunday?